The Automatic/Mosquito Bite EP

(Musical Chair; US: 28 Dec 2008)

Although it may seem like Canadian Stacy Lloyd Brown throws in as many studio tricks as a track can handle, he is very clever about his mixture of electronic and organic sound elements. The dichotomy between the organic and man-made makes the buzzes, blips, textures and CLAPS fresh and quirky. Brown combines lonesome boredom and creativity with a Casio keyboard collection, gentle satirical lyrics, a sense of quiet folk, and unique recording techniques. He included “yelling into an empty auditorium” as one of the sound used to create the disc.

The two combined EPs feature a total of 15 songs that conjure the electronic soundscapes of the Flaming Lips with Beck’s raw One Foot in the Grave. The second EP of psych folk is Brown collaborating with Paul Maclean under the name Goodbye Generation, but it fits seamlessly with the ten song Automatic EP. Check out “Bloody Pockets” for the hippest lo-fi Mexican hip-hop made north of the States, complete with badass time signature changes.